The Holy Spirit is always seeking to influence us to do something godly, to follow God’s direction to make a good decision. Too often we trust out knowledge, we lean to our own understanding and resist the influence of the Holy Spirit. So often, it makes no sense. (I am not saying that it is bizarre, irrational or idiotic.)
The other morning, I received a text message from my daughter, Christy. She said, “I’m ready to come to work, but I just don’t feel right about leaving yet.” I encouraged her to follow her heart. (The heart is where God speaks and influences.) In a while she sent another text and said, “I’m on my way in. As I walked around my apartment, I found a candle that had been burning all night. It had burned down completely.”
Failure to yield to the influence could have burned her apartment and even taken lives. Many times we see the reason. Many times we do not. Regardless, we should always follow what we know to be the influence of the Holy Spirit. When the towers were attacked on 9-11 the original estimate of casualties was much higher than the final number. People who would have normally been in the towers working were not there. As the stories unfolded there were thousands of people who just did not show up for work when they should have. Many said, they did not know why, they just didn’t go to work that day.
Dying or living was not a matter of one being more holy or qualified than the other. It was not about one being more spiritual than the other. But it meant that thousands of people noticed an influence in their heart. Many who did not even believe in God responded to the Holy Spirit and lived. Being led by the Spirit, yielding to the influence, begins with being aware. Some people just tend to listen to their heart more then others. For most of us it is cultivated. Everyday we must do whatever we can to be aware of God.
If we are not listening we will not hear. Cultivate your awareness. Then we must trust God. This happens because we believe God is good and only good. We know that God will never hurt us, or lead us into a place of pain and suffering. Additionally, if we are fully convinced that He only leads us to good things, we will have no lack of trust, no hesitation to follow. If we are aware, we hear; if we trust, we take the next step, we yield, obey… follow! Obedience is all about believing. If we believe, we obey. If we trust, we follow.
God doesn’t want to control our lives. He offers the abundant life and says, “Follow me.” The choice is ours. He wants to lead us and He wants us to trust Him enough to follow! I encourage you to spend time everyday investing in your heart. Do whatever you do to make yourself aware of God. Start every day by renewing your commitment to follow Him with your whole heart!
